Adobe Acrobat is a program used for electronic publishing that is based on the Portable Document Format (PDF). PDF files are platform-independent--that is, they can be viewed and printed on Windows, Macintosh, DOS and Unix systems. All you need is Acrobat Reader or Acrobat Exchange. Web browsers are easily configured to start up the Acrobat Reader.

PDF retains all the layout, fonts and graphics of the original document. By using this format, we are able to put brochures, forms and documents on the Web without all the extra steps (and time) required to convert and format text to HTML and graphics to GIF or JPG.

Download and Configure Acrobat

Acrobat Reader is free and you may download it from Adobe Systems. If you already have Acrobat Reader, you do not need to download a new copy, unless you want the new Reader 3.0.

There are three steps to downloading the Reader:

1. Register with Adobe. This step is optional; you may skip it if you wish.
2. Select and download the appropriate version of the software.
3. Configure your browser to start Reader when it finds a PDF file.

Tips for Using Acrobat

With Acrobat you can easily scroll through documents, zoom in and out on pages, and print one or several pages. The online help built into Acrobat explains these features.